Quote Originally Posted by HNSB View Post
Point three: PUT DOWN THE MICROSCOPE! Your microscope can tell you if you have micro-chips at the edge. It can also tell you if you have multiple bevels. It *might* tell you about scratch patterns, depth of scratches, and if your bevel is set. It can just as easily fool you about those things. Yes... YOUR MICROSCOPE CAN LIE TO YOU. I keep meaning to find time to put together a video of microscoped edges and how the light plays on them. By tilting a blade a fraction of a degree I can make 1k scratches look like 8k scratches. I can show you blades that look like they have a perfect bevel set, but that won't shave arm hair (and won't shave anything else if progressed through the grits). Feel free to pick up your microscope to check for chips, or as a curiosity about scratch patterns. The microscope should NOT be used to determine when it's time to move to the next stone in your progression. You need a calibrated test to determine that. No one can tell you what that test will be. You need to either meet with someone and learn a test that works for you (see point one), or beat your head against the wall until you get it.
I disagree.
The microscope is a tool, just as a hone is a tool. You can use it right or wrong but if you use it wrong, or for the wrong purpose, don't blame the tool and set it aside. I assess sharpness with my thumb. I don't use the scope to determine my progression, but I NEVER leave my 1k without checking the full length of the edge, and I never will.

Also, there is a huge difference between what is seen in a single photo and what is seen live in a microscope. I hold the blade under the objective and yes, I tilt it. Sure, tilting changes the way that light reflects off the bevel. That's exactly why I tilt it, so that I can see the edge from all the angles.